On April 19, an 82-year-old man was killed after being knocked down by a bull calf that was catapulted into the air when it was hit by a Vande Bharat Express train in Rajasthan, India. The calf also died in the incident. The series of events began when the calf obstructed the Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer Vande Bharat Express train on the tracks. A man who was urinating near the track was also killed in the incident.
The deceased man was identified as Shiv Dayal Sharma, a former railway worker in the electric department, who was standing around 30 metres from the point of impact.
According to official statistics provided by the Indian Railways, more than 90,000 cattle have been hit by trains since 2019. Indian Railways is considering fencing the rail lines along the 622-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad length to avoid such incidents. A $245.26 crore project has already begun in this regard.
In addition, Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnav, has recommended building a 1,000 km long boundary wall since some North Central Railway sections in Uttar Pradesh are susceptible to cattle hits.
There have been other incidents involving Vande Bharat Express trains hitting cattle. For instance, two incidents were reported in October 2022, one at Atul railway station and another at Anand railway station, both in the Indian state of Gujarat. The train’s nose had sustained significant damage in the Atul accident.
In other news, on April 25, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to flag off Kerala’s first Vande Bharat Express between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod at Thiruvananthapuram Central Station. The train will cover 11 districts, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasargod.
Post Your Comments